Industrial vehicles such as forklift trucks, man-lifts and sweepers, may utilize liquid propane (LP) engines to provide vehicle traction, hydraulics and other functions. LP fuel, while typically provided as a liquid under pressure of a fuel tank, becomes substantially vapor by volume as the fuel is used up. Fuel level sensors that rely on fuel level in an LP tank, or on tank pressure, provide for an insufficient amount of warning time as the tank is nearing empty. Vehicle operators complain the low LP fuel warning light and/or audible alarm does not come on soon enough to provide adequate time to reach a refueling station or complete a task. Under some circumstances, the warning light comes on and the liquid propane gas engine stalls shortly or immediately thereafter from lack of adequate fuel. The pressure at which liquid LP turns to vapor in the tank varies under different operating conditions, not least of which is an ambient temperature.
One challenge with LP fuel level sensing on LP engine powered systems is caused by the fact that most are refueled by exchanging fuel tanks. Incorporating a fuel level sensor gauge that is visible to the operator in all these exchange tank applications is expensive. Such fuel level sensor gauges require additional electrical connections (e.g. for the truck dash display) when exchanging fuel tanks and result in reliability problems.
A pressure switch based low LP fuel warning system includes a pressure switch in the fuel supply line and an indicator light on the dash and/or audible alarm. The switch generally activates when the fuel system pressure drops below some threshold, resulting in a short warning to the operator. However, during cold weather applications of 35 degrees Fahrenheit or lower, the propane vapor pressure may be lower than the threshold even if the tank is full. This means the low fuel indicator light will stay on even if the tank is full. Additionally, pressure switch based low LP fuel warning systems include moving parts which tend to fail or require servicing over time.
On some conventional low fuel warning systems, if the tank on the vehicle runs out of liquid fuel, the gauge will still show a partial fuel level. The low fuel warning will only come on when the vapor pressure is low enough to activate the pressure switch. The operator, who planned on working with half a tank of fuel is suddenly left without any vehicle power. Down time caused by the truck being stranded when running out of fuel, or leaving a task partially finished due to low fuel, costs money. It also contributes to service calls to the service department.
The energy content of liquid fuel in a given volume is slightly affected by temperature. However, fuel energy content of fuel vapor is significantly dependant upon temperature. Equivalent energy content of liquid propane gas is 270 times more than propane vapor.
Therefore a small volume of liquid propane gas has more energy content than a large tank of propane vapor. Conventional low fuel warning designs rely on a vapor volume reserve. If a tank is full of propane vapor, it does not have much energy content to run a truck, especially in cold weather.
Conventional low fuel warning systems normally depend upon decreasing vapor pressure to activate a pressure switch that turns on a warning light or an audible alarm. Depending on the ambient temperature, fuel consumption rate, the tank size, and pressure switch setting, the run-time after a low fuel warning light illuminates is approximately two to four minutes. If the truck is operated in very low temperature conditions, the propane vapor pressure can be so low that the low fuel warning light stays on all the time.
The present invention addresses these and other problems.